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VANCOUVER — Based on appearances alone, Dylan Armstrong looks like he was custom built for the sport of shot put.

Standing at 6-foot-4 and weighing in at almost 306 pounds, the 31-year-old athlete from Kamloops is not only built for shot put, he was one centimetre short of winning an Olympic medal in 2008, and comes into the athletics portion of the London 2012 Games as one of Canada’s medal contenders.

Coming to the Games with a fourth-place finish in Beijing four years ago, Armstrong will open up the Olympic competition in the Group B qualifying round Friday morning. The shot put final is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on CTV.

He’ll get three attempts in the qualifying round to put the shot, a solid ball that weighs 7.26 kilograms, or 16 pounds.

Trying to push a heavy ball through the air means power is the obvious key to success.

But there is more to shot put than just pure brute strength.

Lifting weights, plyometric exercise, which are designed to train specific muscles for the throw, and coordination are the underlying factors for success.

Technique has also been refined over the years, allowing athletes to find that optimum strength.

There are two styles athletes will use in competition — the reverse (spin) and the slide (power throw with no spin).

Armstrong, a former hammer thrower, employs the reverse technique in shot put, which isn’t all that dissimilar from his previous sport, which required several rotations before releasing the hammer.

Video replays from the 2008 Olympics, show Armstrong begins his attempt at the back of the throwing circle, completing almost two full rotations as he progresses through the circle, punching the shot when he reaches the front.

According to Digital Track and Field, a website that includes written and video teaching techniques from six different American track and field coaches with both university and Olympic coaching experience, “The thrower should keep the body weight back over the right side as the right foot continues to turn.

“The momentum created by driving across the ring is now converted into a vertical lift. The thrower’s body lifts upward off the ground, the left side blocks as it is elevated off the ground and the put finished at a throwing angle between 37-42 degrees. The right leg lands against the [wooden] toe board [at the front of the circle], with a flat foot parallel throwing area, then the centre of gravity is lowered for added stability and balance after the release of the shot.”

Armstrong, along with his coach, Dr. Anatoliy Bondarchuk, has spent the first six days of the Olympics in Germany, training with the rest of the Canadian athletics team.

Brit Townsend, head coach of the Simon Fraser University track and field team, said there are many attributes that makes Armstrong one competitor to watch.

“His speed in the ring and obviously the strength that he’s developed over the last few years has been remarkable,” said Townsend during a phone interview from Germany.

“He’s just strong and powerful. He’s become really resilient as well. He’s able to compete many times in a season and he’s just a great athlete … he’s composed and he’s confident.

“I think he has perfected his technique over the last couple of years and repetition ... being able to repeat that technique over and over ensures that he can put out a good one when he needs to.”

Now it will be up to Armstrong to throw to his strength, which is, of course, no easy task given the stage he’ll be performing on.

SFU sports psychologist Dr. David Cox knows of Armstrong and knows he is a medal contender. But what Cox would prefer to see Armstrong focus on is what he calls “performance goals,” which includes executing proper technique and working to best his previous individual efforts.

The medals will ultimately take care of themselves.

“The pressure is not derived from winning,” Cox said, referring to performance goals.

“The reality of performance is to compete to the best of your ability … and the reason you don’t win is because the other person is better.”

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Canadian Olympic medal hope Dylan Armstrong ready to take his best shot

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